Reputed Drug Lord Is Arrested In Mexico
Federal police officers in Mexico City escort Alfredo Beltr¿n Leyva, suspected of transporting drugs, bribing officials and laundering money as a leader of the powerful Sinaloa Cartel.
(By Eduardo Verdugo -- Associated Press)
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Tuesday, January 22, 2008
MEXICO CITY, Jan. 21 -- Mexico's army announced on Monday the capture of Alfredo Beltr¿n Leyva, thought to be one of the nation's most powerful and violent drug lords.
Beltr¿n Leyva was taken into custody Sunday while riding in a BMW sport-utility vehicle in a swanky neighborhood of Culiacan in the state of Sinaloa, Mexican army Gen. Luis Arturo Oliver Cen told reporters. Beltr¿n Leyva and three accomplices were carrying $900,000 in cash and 11 expensive watches, the general said.
Last week Mexican authorities captured more than 50 suspected drug cartel members following the killings of three police officers and two of their family members in Tijuana. Also, a major shootout between drug suspects and police led to the discovery of at least six execution victims.
Known by the nickname "El Mochomo," Beltr¿n Leyva is thought to be a top commander in the Sinaloa Cartel, one of Mexico's preeminent drug-smuggling organizations. The cartel's leader, Joaqu¿n "Chapo" Guzm¿n Loera, escaped from a Mexican prison in 2001.
Since the escape of Guzm¿n Loera, the Mexican government has been accused of going easy on the Sinaloa Cartel and of helping Guzm¿n Loera by aggressively pursuing his main rival, the Gulf Cartel. Rumors of favoritism were stoked by the 2003 arrest of Gulf Cartel leader Osiel C¿rdenas Guill¿n and by the capture in the past year of dozens of the cartel's assassins, known as Los Zetas.
"It's very difficult to prove these kinds of accusations -- but you can't discount them," Jorge Chabat, a Mexico City-based drug expert, said Monday.
However, the arrest of Beltr¿n Leyva will "weaken those hypotheses that the government is favoring and protecting the Sinaloa Cartel," Chabat said
Beltr¿n Leyva oversaw a vast drug-smuggling operation and was a key money launderer for the cartel, Oliver Cen said. He also was in charge of co-opting public officials in the states of Sinaloa, Sonora, Chihuahua, Durango, Jalisco and Nayarit, the general said.
Beltr¿n Leyva also had a reputation for ruthlessness. Along with two of his brothers -- the group was often referred to as "The Three Horsemen" or "The Three Gentlemen" -- he was in charge of two bands of professional assassins, authorities say.
